PESHAWAR: The elders of the Zaoddin Zakhakhel and Storikhel tribes on Friday asked the government to provide facilities to the displaced persons returning to Tirah valley in Khyber Agency.
They said that the infrastructure was destroyed after the security forces launched Operation Khyber-1 in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency after the tribal people vacated their houses.
“We left behind everything in our houses when the security forces carried out the military operations against Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Tirah,” Hakim Khan Afridi, an elder of the Zaoddin Zakhakhel tribe told this scribe.
He thanked Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Political Agent Khalid Mehmood for repatriating the displaced people as normalcy had started returning to the area.
Malik Taj Muhammad, an elder of the Storikhel tribe, said the tribespeople in lower Tirah were faced with a host of problems after returning to native areas after two years.
The tribal elders urged the government to reopen schools and the basic health units as the local people lacked education facilities.
They added that the internally displaced persons had returned to native areas after years and the government should provide them all kinds of facilities so that they could resume normal life.
“The tribespersons belonging to the Storikhel tribe and Zaoddin Zakhakhel tribe have been repatriated to Barkai, Mero Darra, Barwan, Gulikhel, Zaoddin and Sheenkamar, but they are facing problems,” Malik Taj said.
He added the people cannot use vehicles due to the dilapidated condition of roads.
The tribal elders expressed concern at the insufficient compensation package for the IDPs from lower Tirah and urged the government to announce a handout package for them like the one extended to the people of the Malakand division.
They said the government should reopen Sheenkamar and Dwatoi roads before sending the local population back to Tirah to facilitate the return process.
The elders asked the government to order the construction of the link roads.
They said the winter is approaching, but the damaged infrastructure including houses, hujras, mosques and schools in Tirah have not been reconstructed.
Both the tribal elders said that the returning families would be grappling with harsh weather conditions if the government didn’t take timely steps to mitigate their sufferings.
“The approaching winter season will be very harsh for the people particularly the women, children and the elderly in the remote Tirah valley,” Malik Taj Muhammad added.
